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Tutita Casa

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Dr. Tutita M. Casa is an Assistant Professor of Mathematics Education in the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut. She currently is Director of a National Science Foundation project, "A Task Force on Conceptualizing Elementary Mathematical Writing: Implications for Mathematics Education Stakeholders." The task force distinguished between writing about math and mathematical writing by emphasizing student reasoning, resulting in recommendations about four types of mathematical writing and their various purposes. She also was the Co-Principal Investigator of a 5-year National Science Foundation research and curriculum development grant, Project M^2: Mentoring Young Mathematicians. The project developed and measured the efficacy of advanced geometry and measurement units for all students in grades k-2 with much success. The Student Mathematician Discourse Framework that provides a model to support high-levels of oral and written discourse framed this work and influenced future endeavors in the area of mathematical writing.

The Elementary Mathematical Writing (EMW) Task Force was made up of educators with unique perspectives about elementary mathematical writing and with the goal to reach a consensus about and priorities for the types of and purposes for elementary mathematical writing. The EMW Task Force met in October 2015, analyzed elementary writing prompts and samples, standards documents, and recommendations, and identified four types of mathematical writing and their associated purposes: Exploratory, Informative/Explanatory, Argumentative, and Mathematically Creative.

Project M2 is producing and disseminating curriculum materials in geometry and measurement for students in grades K-2. This builds on success of the M3 U.S. Department of Education curriculum grant for students in Grades 3-5. (www.projectm3.org). Project M2 units are advanced units for all students designed using research-based practices in mathematics, early childhood, and gifted education. Curricular materials focus on promising discourse and hands-on inquiry of rich problem-situations.

This project is funded by the National Science Foundation, grant # 0822241, 1449550, 1650648, 1743807, and 1813076. Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in these materials are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the National Science Foundation.